Alternate Ending
by Lilith Knight
Summary: What if Julian hadn't gotten locked in the closet in the end of the 1st book?


Title: Alternate Ending  
  
Author: Lilith Knight  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Julian, Jenny, Tom, Michael, Dee, Audrey,   
Summer, or Zach. They belong to L.J. Smith. I'm just borrowing them for a while and will return them relatively unharmed. The first part of the story is actually from the book. If you like the books enough to be reading fan-fic about them then I'm going to assume that you know where the book leaves off and I begin.   
  
Summary: What if Julian hadn't gotten locked in the closet in the end of the 1st book?  
  
Comments: I, personally, think this is a better ending than the book. Then again I'm weird, and I never liked Tom anyway. This is for all those who thought Julian should have won.   
  
Rating: PG There's nothing really bad in this one.   
  
Spoilers: FG   
  
Feedback: I live for feedback!!! Tell me if you like it or hate it or whatever. Suggestions are also appreciated.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Upstairs, the clock struck six.  
  
Jenny pulled away from Julian, reluctantly. "I have to breathe," she whispered. She shook herself a little, then stood up. "Things are happening so fast."  
  
He smiled as she walked around, getting her breath back, feeling her flushed cheeks cool. She couldn't look at him right now; she needed to regain her composure. Scarcely seeing it, she fingered the cobalt bracelet on the shelf.  
  
"Why did you let me through my nightmare?" she said abruptly. "Sentimental reasons?"  
  
"Not at all." He laughed. "I did play the Game fairly. I don't lie, even if I sometimes --- withhold information. Your nightmare was remembering what happened that day. You couldn't see it, but the door appeared as soon as you remembered opening the closet."  
  
"Oh," Jenny said softly. "The closet." Then she added, "What did he want from you? My grandfather?"  
  
"What everybody else wants. Power, knowledge --- the easy way. A free ride."  
  
"And runes really work," Jenny said, shaking her head slightly in wonder.  
  
"A lot of things work. A lot of things don't. People can't tell which are which until they try them --- and then they're usually surprised."  
  
Jenny went over to the closet, looked inside. He followed, standing beside her.  
  
"I'm sorry," Jenny said quietly, without looking at him. "I'm sorry he did it. He wasn't a bad man." Then she turned. "I can hardly believe he kept you here."  
  
"Believe it," Julian said grimly.  
  
Jenny shook her head. "I'll always love him. But he was wrong to do what he did." She stepped into the closet. "Not as small as it looks."  
  
"Small enough." He stepped in, too, looked around. "This place brings up bad memories."  
  
"See if we can't make a better one." She smiled up at him, backed up against one wall.  
  
He turned and smiled down at her. In the confined space they were very close. Jenny stood shyly, one leg crossed behind the other.  
  
He bent his head again, his mouth warm and demanding. Jenny gave herself up to it, and the kiss opened like a slow-blooming flower. Became so breathless and urgent that Jenny couldn't break it, even though she knew she had to. She kept thinking, just one more minute, just one more minute . . .   
  
It was Julian who pulled back.  
  
"It's rather uncomfortable in here."  
  
"Do you think so?" She smiled up at him, breath slowing.  
  
"Definitely."  
  
"Well, then, I suppose we could----"  
  
*Now*, she thought.  
  
In the middle of her sentence she moved. She had been standing in the cross stance, a kung fu stance Dee had taught her. Good for instant lateral movement. Now, in a split second, she used the power of her left leg to throw her to the right, vaulting out of the closet. In the same motion she slammed shut the door. "Nauthiz!" she shouted, slashing the X in the air and invoking the rune of eternal constraint.  
  
Or rather that was what she had intended.  
  
She had had no idea he could move so fast. Earlier, when he'd caught Dee's foot and thrown her on her back as she'd tried to kick him, Jenny had compared his reflexes to those of a rattlesnake. She was wrong.  
  
He was faster.  
  
Before she even made it through the door, he had her arms in an iron grip and her body pinned against the wall with his. "Now, you weren't going to try and escape me, were you? Not after you promised," Julian murmured near her ear, his breath warm against her neck. She tried to pull away but failed miserably. "You forget, Jenny. I've watched you for years. I know practically every thought you have." His grip on her arms wasn't painful and his voice was never less than gentle but there was an undercurrent of ice in his voice that sent chills down her spine and set off loud and immediate warnings in her head. "I had hoped you wouldn't do this," he sighed, sounding almost regretful, "but, I knew you gave in far too easily. And your friends are probably still upstairs, as loyal as they are to you. Now I suppose I'll have to deal with them as well." With that, they vanished, reappearing on the top floor.  
  
The others were still there, true to Julian's prediction. They were startled by the sudden appearance of the blond couple but immediately went on the offensive. Tom lunged at Julian and slammed into the same invisible wall that had stopped Zach earlier. Dee had learned from her mistakes and was watching Julian like a hawk, waiting for an opportunity when he would be distracted.  
  
It didn't come.  
  
Julian eyed Tom with disgust. "Now you all have a choice to make. Well, except for her," He glanced down momentarily at Jenny before returning his gaze to her friends who were glaring at him in undisguised hatred, "She already made her choice although she did so intending to betray me. It didn't work though. Did it, love?" The last part was to Jenny who was still at his side, his hand encircling her upper arm, preventing any attempt to leave she might have made. She shook her head, defeated. He had won. "You, however, may leave if you wish. In fact, I would strongly suggest that you do so."  
  
"Why should we listen to you?" Tom growled.  
  
Julian laughed. "Because if you stay what I will do to you will make what you went through in the Game seem like nothing. I've been in existence for a very long time. And I can be very, very creative. I could make you beg to die. And if that doesn't scare you think about what it would do to Jenny. I could make her watch. There is nothing worse I could do to her. She would do anything just to make me stop hurting you. Anything. She'd never even try to fight me if your lives were in danger. I would rather you all just leave quietly so we can be alone, but it's your decision. Although if Tommy, here, decides to stay, I'm sure. . . . . arrangements can be made." The way Julian smiled at him just then made Tom turn white and back up.  
  
"The clock is ticking. Decide fast," Julian said impatiently.  
  
"Go. He only wants me. There's no sense in you being trapped here for eternity." Jenny said.  
  
"Oh, and take her with you," Julian said off handedly as he gestured and Summer materialized in front of them, looking dazed and confused. Everyone was shocked.  
  
"Don't look so surprised. I'm not quite as evil as you seem to think. I'm ruthless when I need to be, but I don't do things without a reason. Now, leave."  
  
They left, reluctantly.  
  
"Are you happy now? You've won. "  
  
"Was there ever any doubt? I always win eventually." Seeing her sadness, he pulled her into his arms. She let him. "Don't be sad," he soothed her. "You'll be happy here. I promise. You can even visit your friends on the solstices." She looked up, hopefully. "The veil between the worlds is thinnest then and as a human you already are linked there," he explained. "It won't be so bad here, you'll see. Come on, I'll show you your rooms."  
  
"Alright." 


End file.
